Family Court Judge Michael Hanuszczak presided over a trial for a 16-year-old boy charged with multiple crimes stemming from the "knockout" homicide. The judge asked the first witness of the day for more information about what went on that day in front of the Los Amigos market.Ellen M. Blalock | eblalock@syracuse.com

Syracuse, NY -- A judge in Onondaga County Family Court handed down a guilty verdict to a 16-year-old charged with manslaughter in the beating death of a 51-year-old man.

Family Court Judge Michael Hanuszczak said during today's court proceedings that he found the prosecution's witnesses at trial to be "extremely credible and reliable."

He found that the Onondaga County Attorney's Office had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt, he said. Chief Deputy County Attorney Joanna Gozzi said her office believes this was "an appropriate outcome."

The boy's defense attorney, Jimmy Meggesto, said he was "extremely disappointed" with the decision.

Hanuszczak found the 16-year-old, who was 15 at the time of his arrest, guilty of second-degree manslaughter and making an apparent sworn false statement to police.

The 16-year-old was arrested with a 13-year-old boy at the end of May. The 13-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree assault last week and admitted to the judge that he had been playing a street game known as "knockout."

Michael Daniels, a 51-year-old man standing alone on the corner of West Brighton Avenue and Cannon Street, had been the target.

The 16-year-old was found guilty today of following up on the 13-year-old's actions, and delivering the fatal blow that caused bleeding in Daniels' brain.

An adult charged with second-degree manslaughter could face a minimum of 1 to 3 years in prison and a maximum of 5 to 15 . In Family Court, the judge can place the teenager for 18 months in a detention facility and extend the sentence annually until the child is 18, or with the youth's consent, until age 21.

Meggesto said he and the 16-year-old's family still believe in the teenager's innocence.

Witnesses reported the presence of at least seven teenagers gathered around the scene of the crime on the night of the May 23 attack.

Meggesto said at trial that one of the County Attorney's juvenile witnesses--the only to identify his client as Daniels' second attacker--had lied to protect his own group of friends.

Meggesto said he will consider whether or not to file an appeal after the judge sentences the boy on Aug. 21.

"We can't file until the case is finished," he said. "But I respectfully, strongly, disagree with the judge's decision."